"The Nord Center's Emergency Stabilization Service (ESS) hotlines support the needs of some of Ohio's highest risk patients, meaning staff need to be ready at a moment's notice. That being said, The Nord Center considers HIPAA compliance and protecting patient health information of the upmost importance, so shortcuts are not an option," said Chris Rojek, CIO at The Nord Center. "DigitalPersona's fingerprint biometric solutions enable our ESS staff to quickly and securely obtain access to patient records, leading to faster response time which could mean the difference between life and death. Not only have the solutions improved our hotline performance, but their impact has been so significant, that we plan on integrating the solutions into all Nord Center operations, including payroll and purchasing."

The solutions secure access to patient records throughout the staff usage of computers and provide instant authentication for digital signatures on health records. In addition to HIPAA compliance, DigitalPersona Pro's integration into The Nord Center's existing Microsoft Active Directory (AD) infrastructure was a driving factor for the organization's selection of the solution. Through AD integration, the solution provided auditable access records for all client data, further supporting The Nord Center's HIPAA compliance.

"Federal regulations like HIPAA are getting increasingly strict and healthcare providers are being tasked with guaranteeing the security of tremendous amounts of patient data," said Jim Fulton, vice president of marketing at DigitalPersona. "Security methods using complex, continuously changing passwords have proved impractical because quick access to information required in a medical environment is impossible. DigitalPersona is helping healthcare providers replace passwords with fingerprints, giving only credentialed employees access to patient data."